Biodiversity
Together we are mobilising 1 million changemakers to protect, restore and regenerate 1 million hectares of Europe’s land, rivers and sea by 2030!
The Bioregional Weaving Labs (BWL) Collective is a growing assembly of 25+ international system-changing organisations, funders, and impact investors, initiated by Ashoka, co-led by Commonland, and grounded in a community of practice, aiming to collaborate towards mobilising 1 million changemakers to restore, protect, and regenerate 1 million hectares of land and sea in Europe.
Bioregional Weaving Labs Collective
The Bioregional Weaving Labs (BWL) Collective represents hundreds of system changers in the field - including many Ashoka Fellows - working directly with farmers, nature conservationists, communities, and stakeholders in bioregions to restore, protect, and regenerate ecosystems and to preserve biodiversity.
BWL does this by establishing Bioregional Weaving Labs in 10 different countries in Europe, which leverage the potential of change leaders and their systemic innovations and weave them together to increase their collective impact. Together, they mobilise 100.000 changemakers per bioregion who are aligned to work towards one holistic landscape plan, generating four returns in the bioregions: natural, social, financial returns, and return of inspiration.
To date, there are 8 active BWLs in the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Romania, Ireland, France, Austria, and Greece, working with 26 Weaving Teams, and facilitating multi-stakeholder processes in Europe. In the Netherlands, BWL has 10 emerging weaving teams that weave stakeholders in different landscapes and form a cluster (one weaving team facilitates a BWL in the South Veluwe watershed).
BWL is also building a (growing) portfolio of systemic innovations from all over Europe that are community-based and scalable and can inspire and support the bioregions in their landscape development. With all BWLs, they form a Learning Network and organise an annual Learning Summit to catalyse peer-to-peer learning and become more knowledgeable fast on how to restore, protect, and regenerate land and seascapes at scale, and how to finance it.
New course: Systems Change for Bioregional Changemakers
Learn how to craft your own systems change strategy in the context of the Bioregional Weaving Labs and similar landscape development approaches.
Join our self-paced course, offered free-of-cost, on Systems Change for Bioregional Changemakers:
Discover the Bioregional Weaving Guide ?
Essential resources to help mobilize 1 million changemakers in restoring, protecting, and regenerating 1 million hectares of land and sea.
This guide includes:
- Three essential resources to help you get started
- 6 Books, 14 courses, and 20+ articles and videos to dive deeper
- And much more!
The Bioregional Weaving Labs Progress Report
It's finally out — The Bioregional Weaving Labs Progress Report 2024.
In this report, you can learn more about:
- The Evolution of the BWL Collective
- Multi-stakeholder Partnership Processes in 8 Different Bioregions
- Our Pan-European Learning Network
- The Deep Scaling of Systemic Innovations
- Changemaker Activation Strategies
- Financing Bioregional Systems Change
- and much more!
The Bioregional Weaving Labs (BWL) Insights Report
The BWL Insights Report 2022 formed the basis for our joint mission and strategy; it explains the urgency of addressing the poly-crises of climate, pollution and biodiversity in an integrated and holistic way. It argues for the potential of weaving social innovation and Nature-based Solutions as a way forward. It finally explains the BWL strategy; why we choose weaving as central methodology, why we work in bioregions and why we establish Labs. The report annex offers a deep dive into the systems-changing initiatives of 14 Ashoka Fellows in the field of biodiversity.
Policy Recommendations
Ashoka contributed to a briefing with policy recommendations for the EU commission on delivering the Green Deal through holistic landscape restoration. BWL is set as an example how to realise social mobilisation on a landscape scale.
Deep dive and how to join
Due to its participatory and creative nature, social innovation is well-positioned to address environmental challenges, which are multifaceted and often require societal or behavioral shifts towards more sustainable options. We invite Ashoka Fellows and other social innovators to contact us, in case they want to explore a collaboration.
What became clear by interviewing Ashoka Fellows and holistic landscape practitioners is that to solve the interconnected challenges in the field – biodiversity loss, resource over-extraction, soil degradation, climate change – we need to trigger a fundamental mindset shift.
We need to shift how humanity sees its relationship with nature, from the current mindset of human superiority, separation from nature, and extraction to the connection, regeneration, and reliance on our planet, in order to unravel the damage our global, interconnected systems are causing. We are the regeneration!
Sign up for the BWL Newsletter here!
Meet the Initiative Leads
Noa Lodeizen
Never before has the impact of humanity on Earth been so decisive for planetary well-being and humanity's future as now.
I believe we must now place our resources in education and specifically in growing children's skills in empathy, positive psychology, self-awareness, collaboration, leadership and creativity. Only then will children be able to recognize problems and find solutions to the increasing challenges that they will face during their lifetimes. We really need to rethink the systems we have created, becoming the new system and collaborating to act together.
I found an organization 18 years ago, focusing on vulnerable young people in prison, 'Young in Prison', where I have seen in reality how all children CAN transform. With my initiative, I was rewarded with an Ashoka fellowship and I have since fallen in love with Ashoka's mission: 'everyone a changemaker'.
Karin Müller
Experienced Co-Founder and Executive Director with a demonstrated history of working in cultural and social entrepreneurship.
Preferred themes: collective impact, planet & climate and education.
Strong professional skilled in operational management, leading international teams, event & program management, multi-stakeholder management and fundraising.